Search results

The corrosion of cupronickel and copper alloys in marine and chloride environments presents significant challenges in the chemical and petrochemical industries. This paper aims to investigate the corrosion inhibition of cupronickel alloy (Cu-10Ni) in a sodium chloride medium using expired amlodipine as a corrosion inhibitor. The use of this drug in its expired form could reduce the costs of corrosion and help mitigate the accumulation of pharmaceutical waste.

The inhibitory action was evaluated using a weight loss method, potentiodynamic polarization, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy measurements, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM). The effect of temperature on the inhibition performance was also studied.

The results of these experiments demonstrated that the drug amlodipine effectively inhibited the corrosion of cupronickel alloy in chloride solutions. The corrosion rate of cupronickel was found to decrease with increasing inhibitor concentration and to increase with rising temperature. A maximum inhibition efficiency of 91.92 was achieved with an inhibitor concentration of 0.025 g/L at 298 K. Adsorption of the inhibitor followed the Langmuir adsorption isotherm. Polarization studies indicated that the expired drug acted as a mixed inhibitor. SEM and AFM analyses confirmed that the surface morphology of cupronickel specimens was significantly improved in the presence of the inhibitor.

Amlodipine can be conveniently used to mitigate problems with the corrosion of copper alloys in chloride environments.

Amlodipine is evaluated as a novel and effective corrosion inhibitor for cupronickel alloy in neutral chloride environments.

Despite global advancements, the Indian construction industry lags in adopting technologies like robots, artificial intelligence, drones, unmanned ground vehicles and Internet of Things sensors due to various barriers. This reliance on traditional practices leads to persistent issues such as labour shortages, low productivity, safety risks, cost overruns and delays. Identifying and addressing these barriers is crucial for adopting advanced technologies. Hence, this study aims to identify and assess the influential barriers to construction automation and robotics (AaR) in India using a systematic approach.

An extensive literature review identified key barriers, including technological, financial, regulatory, environmental and organisational. A questionnaire survey was conducted among industry professionals, and the Fuzzy Decision-Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory technique was used to evaluate the interrelationships and relative significance of these barriers.

The results of the study reveal the most critical cause barriers as “high initial cost”, “rigidity in organisational processes and procedures”, “interoperability”, “lack of competency” and “lack of standardisation”. These barriers subsequently influence the top two effect barriers such as “market uncertainty” and “ethical concerns”.

This research offers a systematic and quantitative assessment, enabling stakeholders to make informed decisions and develop strategies to overcome barriers to AaR adoption, unlocking the transformative potential of AaR in India’s construction sector.

Despite potential benefits, the adoption of AaR in Indian construction remains limited due to various barriers. This study provides novel insights with the first comprehensive assessment of these barriers and their interrelationships.

Alarming statistics underscore the pressing need for effective heat stress management strategies for the construction industry. Validated, holistic systems are lacking. This paper presents the usability of a technological solution that generates early warnings to proactively manage heat stress conditions.

Theoretical frameworks guiding technology design, development and validation proposed in this paper are based on the principles of technology readiness levels (TRL). The system encompasses two types of heat stress indicators: environmental and workers’ temperature data. Portable weather stations generate a hierarchy of environmental measurements at multiple levels at various work zones. Internet of Things (IoT) enabled smart vests monitor construction workers’ body temperature in real-time. A web-based system and a smartphone app enable data visualization. The system was deployed on residential construction sites, and usability was evaluated using the strong theoretical frameworks of the technology acceptance model (TAM) and System Usability Scale (SUS). Perceptions of both construction workers and management personnel were captured.

The usability test provided valuable insights into the effectiveness and practicality of the system. Both construction workers and management provided positive feedback, indicating that the system was user-friendly and enhanced their awareness of thermal conditions on site. The integration of individual temperature monitoring with environmental data has proven to be beneficial for managing heat stress.

This study contributes by providing a validated innovative system that monitors thermal conditions on construction sites using smart personal protective equipment (PPE) and IoT technology. The proposed system, tailored to the construction industry, enables the combining of personal and environmental data to comprehensively and effectively understand thermal conditions. This approach has the potential to reduce heat-related incidents and improve overall worker safety and productivity.

Information and communication technologies brought a new paradigm that allows policymakers to ground their actions on real-time events. Smart cities were initially conceived as a technological vision separate from urban planning. As a result, projects were rarely connected between departments, objectives were not aligned with strategic goals and there was a lack of citizen participation. This study aims to propose a framework to guide and support the design and implementation of a smart city.

Interviews with eight policymakers and one secretary of state are conducted to explore current decision-making processes, specifically, to understand if and how smart city strategies are designed and who their main contributors are. Based on these findings, an inductive thematic analysis of existing literature studies to inspire the steps of the proposed framework is performed. Finally, these steps are discussed in a focus group with nine smart city experts to characterize the guidelines comprehensively.

Policymakers confirmed the lack of a standard method and approach to orient their smart city strategies. Results describe a flexible, participatory framework that envisions 12 steps divided into 4 phases with dedicated guidelines.

This paper integrates the plan-do-check-act cycle approach into the thinking for urban planning design. In addition, it raises the need to reflect on the definition of a country’s strategic plan and the alignment and execution of cities’ roadmaps.